The Love of Siam: Bad Ending?

Just when I thought that I had seen enough of sad, bad, frustrating or just plain depressing endings (every adjective is different, mind you), there I was again at almost 3 this morning digging for clues in the IMDB website fora. But unlike the rage I had when I watched "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss," where the protagonist was unexpectedly dumped for a more attractive man, the ending of "The Love of Siam" somewhat had me torn between taking the movie to my "Hall of All-Time Movie Favorites" or to my "Hall of All-Time Movie Downers."

Quite ironically, the first time I saw the ending of "The Love of Siam" I was extremely happy (this is an understatement) with how the director depicted the scene. I did not even think of it as sad or devastating. In fact, I was surprised - pleasantly - by how the movie was concluded. But you know that all changed (though slightly) when I got brainwashed by the reactions flooded in the fora. More on that later.

For those who haven't seen the movie - and for your enlightenment - here's a summary (I may not be good at doing nutshells. Just read my previous post, which was a very amateurish attempt in doing a summary of "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss." It turned into a novel-cum-critique. Haha. But do I have choice here?) :

Mew and Tong (played brilliantly by Witwisit Hiranyawongkul and Mario Maurer, respectively) were childhood friends. They were neighbors. At the outset, Mew didn't like Tong because of the latter's mischievousness. Tong, on the other hand, was more receptive of Mew. One day, Mew got into a fight with some of his schoolmates because of his "sissiness." Quite expectedly, Tong was there to the rescue. Resultingly, he was the one who got mobbed. That was how the friendship of the two was forged. In one scene, Tong gave Mew a gift through a game where the latter had to find scattered pieces of the toy gift (think of Mr. Potato Head, but wooden) through maps the former made. When the two got into the place where the last piece was hidden - a tree - the same was already cut and being taken away. So Mew got his toy, without its last piece: the nose.

Then the plot thickened. Tong's sister, Tang, "got lost in the jungle" during a hiking trip. Tong's family - because of their devastation - had to move to relieve them somehow of their pain.

Years later, Tong and Mew met again - in Siam Square. Tong was already dating a girl and Mew was a vocalist in a boy band (August Band). The boy band's assistant, June, had a very arresting resemblance with Tang. The similarity was so striking that even Tong's mother hired her to pretend to be Tang in order to salvage Tong's father who was then addicted to alcoholism because of Tang's loss.

As the movie progressed, it could be seen that Mew had more than a friendly thing going on for Tong. Mew even composed several "love" songs specially dedicated to his childhood friend. Tong, on the other hand, seemed "complicated" at first. But in several scenes, Tong revealed that he had the same thing going on for Mew, too. (Just a note: both of them were straight-acting. Mew's girl neighbor even had an obsession for him. Arguably, both of the boys were still confused with their sexual preferences.) But after a party in Tong's house (to celebrate the supposed return of Tang), the two kissed. This was all seen by Tong's mother, who, the next day, confronted Mew, asking him to end the relationship he had with Tong. Being the young, gullible man that he was (both him and Tong were still in high school), he succumbed to the request of the oh-so-typically-conservative mother. Tong soon found out and sought Mew. But for days, the latter gave the former the cold shoulder... until the concert in the square.
As the movie approached its end, Tong gave up his snotty girlfriend; Mew's neighbor found out about the boys' relationship but handled it with respect; and June/Tang quit her job and left for somewhere else, leaving the audience wondering whether she was really Tang or not.

Finally, the ending. After the concert, when Mew and his co-band members were leaving, Tong approached Mew. At this stage of the movie, the viewers presumably were anticipating that Tong will affirm his love for Mew and they'd live happily ever after. After all, in a brilliantly depicted scene, with a girl and a boy ornament used as metaphors, Tong asked what his mother would like to be placed in the Christmas tree. First, he placed the girl figure, then the boy. Later, he paired the two. Tong's mother, obviously unaware that her son was trying to tell her something, candidly told him to do whatever. Then Tong managed a reply, which undoubtedly sent shivers to my bones, "What if I choose one and you don't like it? You'll be upset again." Tong's mother, tentatively petrified and conspicuously overcome by the sudden impact of the query, told him, "Choose what you think is best for yourself." Tong chose the boy puppet, while his mother looked on sympathetically as if telling him that though his son's choice wasn't exactly what she would have hoped, she knew that it was what Tong thought was best for him - and that was enough. That was probably one of the best movie scenes I've seen.
So there were the two boys seemingly caught in all the events that led to this scene: after the concert, as the two stood in front of each other, waiting for the culmination of the decision they had to make for each other... while Mew's friends stood behind them, watching, listening, hoping... so was I. My excitement was already way beyond boiling at this point, but of course, I had to contain myself... Then it happened: Mew asked Tong what he thought of the song his band sang at the concert (a cheesy but quite nice song about meeting someone and making a beautiful destiny - a dream - out of their lives)... There was an awkward, silent moment first as if telling the viewers to prepare themselves for the unforgiving gravity of Tong's words... He replied, with his puppy eyes directed to Mew's wondering ones, "I can't be with you as your boyfriend..." Mew's smile suddenly faded, like a petal hiding away from the sun's rays, but he managed to smile again, attempting to hide the disappointment... Tong continued, "But that doesn't mean that I don't love you."

Awww. I was already blushing then but I didn't care. Haha. At that time, I didn't know yet the true import of Tong's words. All I knew was that Tong finally had the courage to embrace who he was and to reciprocate expressly Mew's love for him - though not in the best way there was. After all, if one loved another, shouldn't they be together? But who am I to meddle with this? Haha.

After those powerful words, Tong gave Mew a Christmas gift. Later, Tong went back home and confirmed to the audience once and for all that family had to be first in his priorities. In the end, Mew was shown with Tong's Christmas gift, the missing piece of the wooden toy Tong gave him when they were little (remember the game?). It was the nose. After finally putting the piece in its place, he stared at it and began to cry while saying the words, "Thank you." It was one of the most fragile yet brilliantly acted outbursts I'd seen for a while in a movie. Very heartbreaking, especially when Mew had to open his mouth to contain his tears. The movie finally ended with the toy staring blankly at the viewer - haunting, asking, hoping.
When I turned off the screen, I had no doubt that "The Love of Siam" would be one of my favorites, maybe next to "American Beauty," "Brokeback Mountain" or "Shelter."

I was so taken by the movie that I immediately got into the IMDB website just to have a view of what other people thought of it. But disappointingly, many of them didn't like the ending. Some even questioned why the two couldn't end up together. Some had very rational views on the matter, alleging that Asian families are still stuck in the tradition of a heterosexual setting, thus, making hesitant followers out of their children. But most - if not all - of them liked the movie in general. I did, too, but in its entirety. I thought it wasn't concluded as worse as some people put it. In fact, I viewed the ending with a very big possibility for Tong and Mew. Just because Tong decided that he and Mew couldn't be boyfriends didn't mean that they couldn't be together at all. (People, Tong didn't say he'd marry a girl or be straight at once!) I even thought the arrangement Tong offered Mew entailed a bigger space for optimism and love for the two of them. They could still end up together because what they had was sufficient to hold them together.

Even though it was obvious, I still had to get the idea from some of the bloggers that what the director offered was an open-ended ending. Hence, any conclusion that suited the viewer would suffice. In other words, Tong and Mew's love story could either be a tragedy or otherwise, depending on the individual's perspective. Personally, either it was a bad thing or not, the two protagonists were still very young and worldly. But they had shown very strong oppositions against the norms, so be positive. Anyhow, a presumably "happier" ending could have pushed the movie to infinity, but a hint of reality couldn't hurt a little, if at all.

So thankfully, I wasn't brainwashed totally by the comments. (Inevitably, only a sequel can end all the debates over the ending. "The Love of Siam 2" please!)

I also didn't construe Mew's "thank you" in the end of the film as an utter piece of sarcasm. When I first saw that scene (which I've repeated countless of times), I thought what was being acknowledged by Mew wasn't the bitterness engulfing the just transpired conversation he had with Tong - but the affirmation of the love, of the possibility that he wouldn't be lonely anymore because of Tong. They weren't tears of regret, of frustration - but of gratefulness and of hope. As that part was running, I remembered the scene in Mew's room where Tong asked Mew if he was feeling lonely, Mew had a part of his answer which went like this, "Is it possible that we can live our entire life without loving anyone at all? That's my loneliness." I thought with Mew's "thank you" came the answer to his question. And he couldn't be lonely anymore.

Mew's favorite verse couldn't say it better, "As long as you love, you still have hope." Indeed.

So, to answer conclusively the question: was the ending bad? NO. Not at all. In fact, it was excellent.